A recent op-ed piece appearing in IBJ.com highlights the importance of boosting education in this country to positively impact companies and the economy. The author of the article, Jamie Merisotis, mentions that Indiana is far below the national 2025 goal of 60% of citizens holding a quality college degree. Harrison College shares the opinions of Mr. Merisotis' article and continually works towards graduating students with viable degrees to positively impact local, regional and national companies in a wide variety of fields.
Harrison College is based out of Indianapolis, IN and has 13 campus within the state as well as one campus in Columbus, Ohio. Harrison College campus locations beyond the Indianapolis area include Anderson, Columbus, Elkhart, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Marion, Muncie and Terre Haute. In addition to onground locations, Harrison College has an online division that serves students in over 20 programs, including Business Finance, Medical Assistant, Accounting, Criminal Justice, Information Technology and Health Care Management, to name a few.
As the economy becomes more globalized, it is vital that individuals in this country have meaningful college degrees in order to compete in the ever-changing marketplace. For a complete listing of programs offered by Harrison College, please visit the following link.
RSVP today at Other programs and employment opportunities stemming from Harrison College's School of Health Sciences include health care management, massage, surgical technology degrees and careers, Indiana nursing school degrees and careers and soon, Ohio nursing school degrees and careers.
As you can see Harrison College is committed to the growing hospital and health science fields. For more information on any of the above listed campuses or programs, please visit the Harrison College website.
! I always feel badly, and include in my sympathetic speech, "You have to remember to save frequently so that this won't happen next time."Well, here I am, writing a blog ... for the second time, because I didn't practice what I had preached. I had written this wonderful blog about why librarians won't go extinct anytime soon, referring to this great article that lists 33 reasons why librarians are important. And guess what happened? As I was hitting the "Submit this Post" button, I lost it. And, had I saved my work "frequently," as I always tell the students? Of course not!
So, instead of a rockin' blog on the coolness of librarians, why are you reading the ramblings of a repentant re-writer? Well, because like so many things in life, sometimes learning things the hard way is the only way it really sinks in. Many of the students at Harrison College are here because they have made a mistake somewhere in the past. They may have traveled down the wrong road, chosen the wrong career path or college and are now intent on correcting that mistake.
And just as I have learned from my beautiful, lost post that will never be read (trust me, I have saved this post about 16 times so far!), our students at this Fort Wayne College are the better for the wrong paths they have travelled, because it has made them excellent navigators on the road of life!
As a new librarian at Harrison College, formerly Indiana Business College, I see and feel the changes we are making every day. Sometimes it can be mind-boggling! I feel like Stephens did when he says he showed up at Portland Library and they handed him some money, some tools and said, "Build a Teen Program."
I arrived at the Fort Wayne College less than a year ago, but with the great support from my team here on campus and in administration, we have built a great library, with customized online support for the major programs we offer, such as Surgical Technology, Business Marketing, and Finance. Our circulation has increased, our database usage has skyrocketed, and the number of students asking reference questions has also gone through the roof! We have gone from having students trickle in through the doors to having almost 800 per month sign in to use our resources (and we only have around 600 on campus).
And, best of all is when the students make the final change -- earning their degree in their chosen field at Harrison College and ultimately finding employment -- now that is a change worth waiting for!
Harrison College understands the importance of having resources available at all times for all students. That is why many of the Harrison College campuses have dedicated a lot of time, energy, funds, and thought to the Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) located within the Harrison College campuses.
The Columbus Indiana college campus is no exception. Recently our LRC underwent an extreme makeover of sorts. Students now have a larger space where they can access online resources, books, and professional magazines. In fact, our library will be expanding with the addition of many books currently being ordered to fill the shelves. We have been looking ahead and making improvements to our building in anticipation of hiring a MLS librarian. We know we will attract only the best candidates for this position too—after all, we were named one of the Indiana Best Places to Work for the third year in a row!
Here are just a few ways we anticipate the new LRC at the Columbus Indiana college campus will assist our students in reaching their educational 
and career goals:
- A librarian who can assist in navigating through the information maze.
- A relaxing space with enough computers to go around.
- A librarian who can visit classrooms to help everyone access information to complete assignments.
- Books and magazines that will help in completing assignments.
- A librarian who can help find the books and magazines you need.
- An online catalog that includes various materials for research.
- A librarian familiar with and able to assist with APA style writing.
- An automated checkout system.
If you want to read more from a current Harrison College librarian, check out the blog postings of Andrea Cohn. She works for the Harrison College Fort Wayne college campus.
I have worked for Harrison College since 2006. I started in my role as a Financial Aid Analyst with the Indianapolis- East campus and most recently moved to Fort Wayne campus to serve in the position of Director of Financial Aid. My main goal is to provide a suitable financial aid package for every Harrison College student that enables them to progress through their education successfully. I have an MBA in Finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, both from the University of Indianapolis. During my time there, I led the Indian Student Association and the Intercultural Association. This was my first formal experience in working with diversity groups.
Personally, I have been a part of diversity all my life. An Indian citizen by nationality, I was born and raised in Kuwait. My school life consisted of being classmates with kids of different nationalities which helped develop an affinity with different cultures. In the process I have learned to speak four different languages, cook three different cuisines, enjoy movies from Bollywood and appreciate Facebook because it helps me to connect to all my friends across the globe swiftly and economically! Hence I feel at ease in being part of this committee that strives to enrich the culture at Harrison through awareness, understanding and sharing.
Favorite Cuisine: Middle Eastern and Thai
Places traveled: Britain, Italy, Dubai, Bahrain, Pakistan, Malaysia Singapore, Brazil.
The Spring Quarter is underway here at Harrison College, formerly Indiana Business College, and with the warm April showers and budding flowers comes growth of another kind as well! This Quarter we have added an assistant librarain at this Fort Wayne College to keep up with the increasing demands of our ever-growing student population.
While adding another full-time librarian might seem like a small deal to some people, it is just another example of how responsive Harrison College is to the needs of its students and faculty. When I talked to the administration about my concerns that our student body was getting too big to handle for one librarian (what a great problem to have, by the way!), they were quick to respond with a game-plan of adding an assistant librarian to help supply our students with the quality reference service they deserve.
We are now able to staff the library with a librarian from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 4:30 on Friday. Harrison cares about the needs of its students and is willing to supply the resources to make them successful in their endeavors.
Marissa Werling, a student at Harrison College, formerly Indiana Business College, is currently taking classes to earn her Surgical Technology Degree. She works part-time in the Learning Resource Center at the Fort Wayne college as a work-study student, allowing her to have a flexible work schedule while attending classes. I asked her to write about a recent experience she had when she participated in a job-shadowing exercise at a local hospital. This is what she had to say about her hands-on experience:
As a Surgical Technology student at Harrison College, I had the opportunity to shadow a practicing Surgical Technologist (ST) and observe surgery at Dupont Hospital. After changing into scrubs, I was taken into the operating room (OR) where a surgery called an Elevated Mesh Lift procedure was going to be performed. The ST showed me how to set up and prepare for the surgery. She explained to me from start to finish what my job as a ST would entail: preparing the instruments and items used for surgery and how to pass surgical instruments to the surgeon. I was amazed on how much preparation and organization it takes to set up for a minor procedure. She also took me on a tour of the central supply room, decontamination room and equipment room.
As the patient entered the room, the ST introduced herself and the anesthesiologist prepared the patient for surgery. After the patient was asleep, the circulating nurse paged the surgeon to the OR. This surgery involved anchoring various muscles in the lower body of the patient so that she would have additional support. The surgeon explained that the patient is a vegetarian and due to absence of protein in her diet and also having given birth to large babies, the patient required this surgery in order to increase the quality of her life. I was able to watch the entire procedure and was grateful for an opportunity to experience what my job as a Surgical Technologist would be like
As the weather finally begins to warm up here in Northeast Indiana, you can start to see a lot of changes taking place. People are leaving home without their coats, smiling more, driving with the windows down, and perhaps taking a few minutes to revel in sunshine and think about their future.
Here at Harrison College, formerly Indiana Business College, we are having a lot of students take advantage of the timing and take the first steps in the path to career advancement. Today I am participating in New Student Orientation for the Spring Quarter, which starts April 5. I have seen the excitement, and sometimes nervousness, on the faces of the students, both from the returning adults taking advantage of our adult education program, and from the high school students who are looking to take advantage of our flexible class schedules and distance learning opportunities.
They all have the same thing in common, they are ready to begin the journey that will take them to the next stage in their lives. They have committed to improving themselves and making this Fort Wayne College a home away from home for the next few years. As a librarian, I am so excited to see all of them and can't wait to find out how the Learning Resource Center can help make their goal a reality!
If you've been to a conference or seminar recently, or even participated in a webinar, the latest craze is the Twitter hash tag. Each time a tweet is sent about that event, the hash tag (i.e. #HarrisonStratPlan) is included. When users search for that hash tag, they can see all the tweets about that event. It's a message board that is accessible to any and everyone. While I'm not sure our strategic planning meetings really warrant a hash tag (and the distraction of being on Twitter simultaneously may have hindered the progress made during the planning), it is certainly something I will keep in mind for any other major @HarrisonColl events.
As always, stay tuned for more information about Harrison's progress with social media. And don't forget to become a Harrison College fan on Facebook.
I spent the past few days pulling together a presentation about social media that I will be delivering to the new president of Harrison College, Jason Konesco. Jason is from a different generation than his predecessor and is more willing to adopt social media as a marketing strategy for both Harrison College and himself.
In addition to defining social media, I made the presentation a little more relevent to education and Harrison. I touch on what our competitors are doing right and wrong, where Harrison currently stands, and how our executive-level staff can contribute. As far as I can tell, only three of the seven members of our ExCom staff are "actively" using social media (Facebook or Twitter) on a regular basis. While that may be a good ratio when compared to any other Indiana career college, I would like to see 100% adoption.
How will I do this? Simple, I will start by easing them in - blogging is a great way to start reluctant staff to participate in social media. It gives them a virtually unlimited forum to discuss their accomplishments and the milestones of their staff and organization. And since Harrison has a Terre Haute college, Fort Wayne college and Anderson career college (to name just a few), our executive staff has much to tout.
Stay tuned for blogs that will soon be authored by Harrison's executive staff. In the meantime, don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@HarrisonColl) and become a fan on Facebook.
I ask that question so many times every day as a librarian at Harrison College (formerly Indiana Business College)! When I started this job at the Fort Wayne College just seven short months ago, I had no idea how much daily interaction I would have with the students and faculty on-campus --- and no idea how much I would love getting to know them and watch them grow as they work towards a degree in Medical Assistant, Business Finance, Criminal Justice, or whatever Career Advancement path they have chosen at this point in their lives. I know that what I am doing is helping them take a step in the right direction.
And the best part is that I get to have FUN while I do it. Someone asked me this morning if I liked being a librarian. I said, "Absolutely! People think I'm a genius because I get to look up all of the answers. It's like being Alex Trebek!" I love working at Harrison because they care enough about their students to hire an accredited librarian at their campuses who can work individually with their students to make sure they are getting the resources they need, when they need them.
I go into the classrooms to make sure the students are being taught the Information Literacy skills they will need to be successful in the college careers, and in life. And the administration has invested in a network of librarians and on-line services (databases, e-books, journals, on line reference) to ensure success both on line and on campus. No wonder Harrison College was voted one of Indiana Best Places to Work!
For job seekers, a list like this is a great way to build your target list of potential employers or to use in researching potential employers. If a company in on a best places to work list (and there are a few different ones - there are others by city/state, profession or affinity group, such as best places to work for moms), check out the criteria as to how companies are selected. If it is based on employee responses, such as the Indiana Best Places to Work list, you have good reason to believe that the organization treats their employees well. And that is a great thing to know before you accept an offer!
Also, sharing that you saw the company on the list during an interview or in your cover letter, lets those involved in the hiring process know that you did your research and are interested in this company specifically. Knowing that they are on your target list of potential employers and that you have done your research is impressive to any potential employer.
So, if you are interviewing with Harrison College, whether the Fort Wayne College, Elkhart College, the Online Division, or any other campus, let your interviewer know that you saw us on the list of Best Places to Work in Indiana!
Vist harrison.edu for current openings at Harrison College.
Well, I'm here to tell you that we do. I want to start this blog off by sharing a positive story about a student here at this Fort Wayne College in the Business Marketing program. He
came into the Learning Resource Center (what we call our Library at Harrison College) desperate for help with his final research paper. He had to pass this class in order to graduate. Since Harrison has a flexible class schedule and is a popular choice as a college for working adults, he faced many of the pressures other adult students do and had gotten a little behind on his work. He needed an A on this final project.
The problem was that he had no idea how to really conduct research, evaluate resources, or properly quote, paraphrase and cite the sources as required by his instructor. I told him I would be willing to help but he would really have to put in some hard work and long days to make it happen.
To my surprise, the student came back that night and stayed for several hours, working with me on how to find information in our databases (as opposed to on Google), and how to evaluate the information he had found. He learned how to paraphrase and cite properly. He brought in a rough draft of his paper the next day so that we could go over revisions and stayed for several hours performing edits and conducting more research to fine-tune his paper. In the end, he was turned in a product he was proud of and managed to pass the class.
A few months later, the student came in to thank me and tell me that he wouldn't have graduated without my help. I told him that it was because of his willingness to ask for help and put in the hard work that he was able to succeed and earn his degree in Business Marketing. He even told me that he was thinking of going on to get his bachelor’s degree! I have since seem him in the LRC at least three times a week diligently conducting his job search with as much energy as he put in to that final paper. I know he will succeed in that as well and begin his Business Marketing Career.
And THAT is why I do what I do. We all just need a little reminder now and then, especially when someone takes the last cup of coffee in the pot!
Have you ever wondered what qualifies a librarian to do his or her job? Continuing education. Librarians go to college to earn a bachelor degree in any program. Then they return to college to earn a master degree in library science. Trained librarians take time out of their lives to teach the next generation how to service patrons in a library setting. It takes at least two years to earn this degree. But the learning doesn’t stop there.
A few weeks ago, a group of eleven librarians from Harrison College, one of the Indiana Best Places to Work, attended a library conference in Fort Wayne. We went expressly to continue learning about librarianship and to discover new and exciting ways to provide our students with services that enhance their learning. Sending eleven librarians to one conference was a milestone for Harrison College. First, until this year, Harrison had only a couple of librarians. But also, even in these tough economic times, Harrison College was focused on training their librarians to benefit their students. They were willing to spend the money on our education to advance your education.
As we attended the sessions, very often as a “family” unit, we noticed we were the largest group of librarians from one institution. Many other libraries represented at the conference had one or two librarians in attendance, most likely due to economic constraints. Being together made a great bonding experience for us especially since we work miles away from each other and only converse via email. Knowing each other on a personal level helps us work together on projects meant especially for our students.
You may still be considering attending college or just started attending Harrison College. You don’t have to get a master degree to provide a service to other people. We did it because we enjoy helping students in a library setting. Here at Harrison College, you can get started with a program that interests you. Many of our programs focus on helping other people. The important part of your preparation is continuing your education. To learn more, please visit Harrison.edu.
Librarians are the bridge between teaching and learning. Librarians are the connection between what students are taught in the classroom and the knowledge they apply to their education, careers and personal lives. We seek and gather knowledge ready to dispense information at a moment’s notice. We facilitate your learning and teach you lifelong skills for researching information.
Here at Harrison College, the library system that began with one librarian and one organized library has spread into a giant network of teaching and learning. Currently, there are seven libraries with more libraries scheduled to open soon at a campus near you! Staffing those libraries are ten professional librarians dedicated to providing you with the best tools available to gather the knowledge necessary to complete your education.
Campuses with Learning Resource Centers include Indianapolis Downtown, The Chef’s Academy, Indianapolis East, Fort Wayne, Evansville, Muncie, and Terre Haute. Soon the Anderson and Columbus, OH, campuses will host libraries with two more librarians eager to assist you. And while the Online division does not have a physical library presence, it does have a librarian preparing a web presence to support Harrison’s global community.
In addition to the ten librarians, two professional librarians work behind the scenes to ease the use of the libraries. One provides digital information resources and the other records vital resource information into the library catalog. And what happened to that lone librarian I mentioned earlier? She is now the director of the Learning Resource Centers.
If you are lucky enough to attend a campus with a Learning Resource Center, please talk to the librarian. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Answering questions is what we do. If your campus does not currently have a librarian, feel free to contact one of the existing libraries. We are equipped to help you, too.
Earlier this week, I went to the Indiana State Fair and had the opportunity to be a part of the Harrison College booth. What fun that was! I was excited to talk with people from all over the state as they stopped by to see who we are and what we are all about. While we were talking I began to see that there were a few questions that seemed to be the most common.
So, here are the top 5 Questions Asked at the Indiana State Fair!
Q: “Where is Harrison College located?”
A: Harrison College is everywhere! We are as close as next door throughout Indiana in Elkhart, Muncie, Anderson, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Columbus, Terre Haute, Evansville, and Lafayette. We are excited about our newest campus in Columbus, Ohio—the first ground-campus we have outside of the state of Indiana. And we are available INTERNATIONALLY via our distance learning college. Many people have known about us for 107 years—but they knew us by the name Indiana Business College—and as you can see, we are not just in Indiana anymore.
Q: “What kinds of degrees do you offer?”
A: Many people are surprised that we offer both Associate and Bachelors degrees. We offer high quality instruction in small classes or via online college courses. Our students earn degrees in Accounting, Business Marketing, Business Management, Criminal Justice, Vet Tech, Medical Assistant, Network Administration, and Massage Therapy just to name a few. For a complete list, just click here.
Q: “Will my credits transfer to Harrison College?”
A: They may! Just like all colleges, we would have to review your credits to see if the course you have completed covered the same material as the courses we teach. We will also look to see if you had the required grade for credits to transfer and that the credits are not over 10 years old. Now, here is where we differ from other colleges—we do this HAPPILY!
Q: “Is Harrison College accredited?”
A: YES! We are nationally accredited through Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and recognized by the Career College Association (CCA).
Q: “Do you have any student like me?”
A: YES! I always want to laugh when someone asks me this because that was maybe the biggest question that I had when I enrolled at Indiana Business College at almost 30 years old. It really doesn’t matter what age you are, if you have a high school diploma or a GED, if you work full time and have a family or if you are enrolling right out of high school—THERE ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU ATTENDING HARRISON COLLEGE!
Everyone here at Harrison College is really looking forward to the Indiana State Fair!
We will have a booth set up between the communications building a swine pavilion with lots of information about our school!
Throughout the fair we will have representatives from all of our campuses across Indiana, including our Evansville College, Elkhart College, Fort Wayne College, and Columbus Indiana College! This is a great opportunity to get information about all the programs Harrison College has to offer so you don't want to miss out!
Hello everyone. The Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration got off to a great start yesterday! We had a lot of people stop by our booth interested in furthering their education at Harrison College.
Today we had several people ask if we had a Fort Wayne college or an Evansville college so I would like to take a moment to address where our campuses are located.
We have 12 campuses throughout the state of Indiana and one that will be opening in time for the fall quarter in Columbus Ohio. We also offer online courses. Our Indiana Campuses are located in:
- Anderson
- Columbus
- Elkhart
- Evansville
- Fort Wayne
- Indianapolis (downtown, east and northwest)
- Lafayette
- Marion
- Muncie
- Terre Haute
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